[PScal]

Vacuum pots make an excellent pot of coffee. While the flavor is different from the aeropress, to me it is very delicious (and entertaining to watch).

If my (kyocera) grinder didn't make so much powder when it grinds, I would use the vacpot every day instead of the Aeropress I currently use. It was the strangest thing... one day the vacpot just started clogging (with the same grind settings), and it hasn't stopped no matter which grind setting I use.

Did you try heating up the water before sealing the top section to the bottom section? That has given me great results.

PS - kwkarth, I like your use of colors in the multi-quote reply.

 

[kwkarth]

Speaking of Aeropress, if you happen to be in the market for a good hot water kettle, check this out:

Saeco 1167 Electric Kettle

It has four temperature settings, and a three digit temperature display that seems to be quite accurate. When the water boils, the display happens to be reading 212. When the temperature hold (up to 2 hours) is set to (High = 200F) the display happens to go as low as 199, at which point the heater cycles on and runs until it reads 202, then the heater shuts off... Pretty cool eh?

That's nuthin'. There are leds inside the kettle that illuminate the water. When the water is stone cold, it's illuminated ice blue, and as the water heats up, the temperature cycles through the colors of the rainbow, (ice blue, green, yellow. orange, purple, red) indicating the water temperature until it boils, at which point the water is illuminated red. Very cool.

Here's the bad news... THe retail on this baby is about 90 bux US.
Here's the good news... The price at Costco is about 35 bux US.

You know how Costco is, here today and gone tomorrow, so if you want one, I would advise you get 'em while they're hot!

 

[Born2bwire]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwkarth /img/forum/go_quote.gif Speaking of Aeropress, if you happen to be in the market for a good hot water kettle, check this out: Saeco 1167 Electric Kettle It has four temperature settings, and a three digit temperature display that seems to be quite accurate. When the water boils, the display happens to be reading 212. When the temperature hold (up to 2 hours) is set to (High = 200F) the display happens to go as low as 199, at which point the heater cycles on and runs until it reads 202, then the heater shuts off... Pretty cool eh? That's nuthin'. There are leds inside the kettle that illuminate the water. When the water is stone cold, it's illuminated ice blue, and as the water heats up, the temperature cycles through the colors of the rainbow, (ice blue, green, yellow. orange, purple, red) indicating the water temperature until it boils, at which point the water is illuminated red. Very cool. Here's the bad news... THe retail on this baby is about 90 bux US. Here's the good news... The price at Costco is about 35 bux US. You know how Costco is, here today and gone tomorrow, so if you want one, I would advise you get 'em while they're hot!

I could not find a kettle that actually had temperature control. However, just about any decent airpot has multiple temperature settings. My own is vacuum insulated and has setting for 98, 90 and 80 grad. I like it a lot more than a kettle because it is much better at retaining the heat and controlling the temperature. I can boil water at night, turn it off, and it will still be 50-60 degrees centigrade 12 hours later. Plus they run in multiple sizes.

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Born2bwire /img/forum/go_quote.gif I could not find a kettle that actually had temperature control. However, just about any decent airpot has multiple temperature settings. My own is vacuum insulated and has setting for 98, 90 and 80 grad. I like it a lot more than a kettle because it is much better at retaining the heat and controlling the temperature. I can boil water at night, turn it off, and it will still be 50-60 degrees centigrade 12 hours later. Plus they run in multiple sizes.

But where can you buy a temperature controlled airpot for $35 US?

 

[beerguy0]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JadeEast /img/forum/go_quote.gif I thought that I would share my current brewing setup workflow experiment. French press is good but too many bits in the coffee for me, pourover I like quite a bit with the fabric filter. My biggest concern is with the pourover is the amount of time the grinds are in contact with the water. For both the press and pourover the water temperatures change probably isn't ideal over the duration of the process. So my experiment has been to brew the coffee in a small thermos and then filter through a flannel filter. I measure the coffee to be ground by weight to 60g per L of water. Grind the coffee & bring the water up to 94 ish degrees and then combine the grinds and hot water in a small pre-warmed thermos and stir. Wait a couple of minutes and stir again then at 4 minutes open the thermos and pour the contents through the filter into a mug.

You need one of these:

Filtercone Coffee Brewers from Sweet Maria's

And add one of these...a programmable, temp controlled electric kettle. This is definitely on my list of coffee gadgets, if I don't finally break down and buy a Technivorm coffee pot. I've been eyeing one for a while, but just haven't plunked down the $$$ yet. I'm still doing manual drip. Makes a great cuppa, but my wife isn't too keen on all the little tricks for getting good results with the manual method.

http://www.sweetmarias.com/prod.cupp...php#PINOkettle

 

[JadeEast]

Quote:

Originally Posted by beerguy0 /img/forum/go_quote.gif You need one of these:

It was part of my inspiration for my experimentation but with a thermos
I have top notch heat retention. I'm just screwing around with a variation
of immersion brewing created out of stuff that I already have in the kitchen.
I'm experimenting slowly with lower brewing temperatures but longer
dwelling time.

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by beerguy0 /img/forum/go_quote.gif You need one of these: Filtercone Coffee Brewers from Sweet Maria's And add one of these...a programmable, temp controlled electric kettle. This is definitely on my list of coffee gadgets, if I don't finally break down and buy a Technivorm coffee pot. I've been eyeing one for a while, but just haven't plunked down the $$$ yet. I'm still doing manual drip. Makes a great cuppa, but my wife isn't too keen on all the little tricks for getting good results with the manual method. Cupping Supplies and Brewing Accessories at Sweet Maria's Coffee: Cupping Spoon, Measure Scoops, Etc.

I like them both! Good find!

 

[Born2bwire]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwkarth /img/forum/go_quote.gif But where can you buy a temperature controlled airpot for $35 US?

When one comes on sale at Costco like your little kettle. But, disregarding sales prices, for the same price as that kettle you can get a 4.0 L version of the airpot that I have:

Amazon.com: Panasonic Nc-hu401p Nchu401p Thermo Pot 4 Liter: Home & Garden

I use a 3.0 L size myself. Of course there are much cheaper versions, I went with a much higher end model for myself.

 

[krmathis]

Interesting!
I will definitely look into a digital temperature controlled pot. We are not allowed to have one at the office, but could be useful back home.

 

[Born2bwire]

The only real bad side to them is that they have a large foot print than a kettle and they can take a while to cool down if you are looking for a temperature off boil. I'm supposed to boil my water before I drink it over here. I really do not know if that is still necessary but I will still take the precaution (I still pick up a local bug every now and then). But the long-short of it is that I use it a lot, and it is very convenient for teas since I want the temperature of the water a certain way for different teas and I can draw off of it all afternoon without having to reheat/boil the water.

That electric kettle above is actually pretty nice since you can choose any arbitrary temperature from what I saw on the order page. That is something I haven't found in anything before. Most air pots I saw had two temperature settings, the more expensive ones had a third, like mine. But it is always nice to have the full range of options.

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Born2bwire /img/forum/go_quote.gif When one comes on sale at Costco like your little kettle. But, disregarding sales prices, for the same price as that kettle you can get a 4.0 L version of the airpot that I have: Amazon.com: Panasonic Nc-hu401p Nchu401p Thermo Pot 4 Liter: Home & Garden I use a 3.0 L size myself. Of course there are much cheaper versions, I went with a much higher end model for myself.

The sales price at Costco is the main reason I mentioned this thing. At retail, it's just another player in the game. Quality wise I prefer the Breville Kettle I have. Its construction is TOP notch. Downside for many is the price of entry.

Breville Variable-Temperature Kettle | Williams-Sonoma

As for hot pots, for dispensing hot water into a tea cup, no problem, but they're too awkward to use with a filter cone or more particularly an Aeropress.

 

[SactoMan101]

Speaking of which, I'm thinking of getting either a Keurig, Senseo or Tassimo machine. Which one is the best?

 

[Pangaea]

I am actually in the market for one of the above machines. Need something for a singular cup and quick. I am leaning towards the Keurig B60.

Interested in what folks think of these machines.

 

[RedLeader]

Being away from headfi for so long, I missed this thread, but I'm currently rocking:
Gaggia Baby
Faema A6
Freshroast SR500
Bodum Presspot
Copper Ibrik (For turkish coffee, actually got it in Turkey)
Bodum Santos

My at-school "rig" is pretty useless, just an aeropress and a $30 B&D grinder. Gotta have something when I'm running after 5 year olds though, and aeropress coffee is easier to gulp, even if it isn't quite as complex.

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SactoMan101 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Speaking of which, I'm thinking of getting either a Keurig, Senseo or Tassimo machine. Which one is the best?

Depends upon what your needs are. I just made this decision for myself a week ago. I decided to go with Nespresso.

My thought process:
I wanted a very convenient way to make one outstanding cup of espresso or coffee. I thought I also wanted the ability to use my own roasted coffee to feed the machine.

The Keurig K-cup design allows you to use your own coffee if you desire, but of course you then have the muss and fuss of packing your own coffee into the Keurig "My-cup" mini filter basket and all the concomitant clean up.

After consideration, I decided I already had the ability to make the best cup of conventional coffee, one cup at a time, wit perfect control of coffee quantity, water temperature, grind fineness, and brewing time, but I still lacked the ability to turn out outstanding espressos. Since there was no substantial way to improve my single coffee process, I turned my attention to the perfect espresso.

I have a fairly expensive semi-auto espresso machine with double boilers, etc, and I have never really ben satisfied with the quality of the espressos from it. (it's probably my lack of skill as a barista rather than a lack in the machine itself.)

None of the single serve machines/systems make real espresso except Nespresso. I read every review I could find on all the single cup machines on the market and then I went to the stores to look at all of them.

WRT fresh coffee, Nespresso grinds and hermetically seals their coffees in the capsules, all while in an oxygen free environment so the coffee keeps its fresh character much longer than otherwise possible. I didn't believe the efficacy of their process until I sampled it for myself.

At one of the stores, I was offered a sample from a Nespresso machine and that pushed me over the edge. The espresso was excellent! I went with a Nespresso CitiZ&Milk. It is a superb system. If you're after quality and convenience, get Nespresso, if quality and convenience aren't at the top of your objectives list, get whatever else appeals to you.

With the Nespresso system, I get the near perfect espresso or cappuccino every time with no effort of skill required on my part @ $0.55 per shot. On top of all this, I can stock over 16 different varieties of coffee blends and roasts simultaneously, with no worries of freshness, and choose what suits my fancy any time.